Cohortes urbanae

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The Cohortes urbanae ( Latin : "urban cohorts ") were a unit of the Roman army , which was stationed in Rome and some other cities during the imperial era and performed police duties there .

Under Augustus , three cohorts were initially set up, the numbering of which (X – XII) followed that of the Praetorians . In contrast to this guard unit, the Cohortes urbanae were not subordinate to the Praetorian prefect , but to the Praefectus urbi , the city prefect. However, from Tiberius to the time of Aurelian, they were housed with the Praetorians in their camp ( Castra praetoria ) on the outskirts of the city. The Cohortes urbanae stood between the Praetorians and the third troop stationed in Rome, the vigiles .

The number of cohorts was increased to nine by the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty , of which in 68 three were not stationed in Rome but in other cities ( Ostia , Puteoli , Lugdunum ). The Lugdunum cohort was primarily responsible for guarding an imperial mint that Augustus founded there. From the Flavian period there were four cohorts in Rome and one each in Lugdunum and Carthage . Under Septimius Severus the strength of the Cohortes urbanae was increased from originally 500 to 1500 men.

literature

  • Werner Eck : Urbanae cohortes. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/1, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01482-7 , Sp. 1030.
  • Helmut Freis : Die cohortes urbanae (= Epigraphic Studies 2, ISSN  0071-0989 = Bonner Jahrbücher. Supplements 21). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1967.
  • Fred Charles Mench: The cohortes urbanae of imperial Rome. An epigraphic study . Diss. Yale Univ. 1968.